While the California men's basketball's team's chances of winning would
appear to be decrease considerably if Allen Crabbe has an off-shooting
night, the Bears weathered that in rallying from a second-half deficit
to defeat Georgia Tech 68-57 and advance to the championship game of the
DirecTV Classic in Anaheim on Sunday.

The Bears trailed 41-38 early in the second half, before ratcheting up the defense and holding the Yellow Jackets to just three points in the ensuing seven minutes while taking a 54-44 lead from which they'd never look back.

Justin Cobbs led all scorers with 17 points in a game where the Bears shot just 3-of-14 on three-point shots but were bolstered by a 41-29 rebounding edge.

Cal raises its record to 5-0 in the season and will play Pacific on Sunday in a game that will be televised by ESPN2.

Most Influential Player: It would be tempting to give this to Justin Cobbs every games; he plays almost the entire 40 minutes, is generally the first or second-leading scorer and usually leads the team in assists. But for this game, it'll go to David Kravish - in 28 minutes he had nine points and eight rebounds, and the Bears were effective when he was paired with Richard Solomon or Robert Thurman or even playing as the lone big player. While the Bears made progress against Georgia Tech with all three of those combinations, it was when he was out of the game for 12:10 that the Yellow Jackets were able to play the Bears even.

Run of the Game: Less of a run, then a methodical job, the Bears outscored Georgia Tech 15-3 over a 6:13 stretch of the second half in boosting a two-point lead to a 61-47 advantage. Cal used six different lineups during that stretch, with the Cobbs/Wallace/Crabbe/Thurman/Solomon providing the early push. During that stretch, Solomon scored seven points. The Bears could have made the margin bigger if not for four missed free throws. Georgia Tech was 1-for-8 from the field during that stretch with two turnovers.

Deadspot of the Game: During a 3:32 stretch of the first half, the Bears managed just two points as went from being up 15-10 to trailing 22-17. Cal had just three field goal attempts, making one. Three other possessions ended up in turnovers without them making a shot.

How the bench did: Cal only used seven players against Georgia Tech, so all bench output came from either Tyrone Wallace or Robert Thurman. In 61 minutes, they combined for 17 points and 7 rebounds, shooting 6-of-11 from the field. Combine that with 21 points from Richard Solomon and David Kravish and the Bears showed that they can generate enough offense from other players that they were able to weather a rough shooting night from Allen Crabbe, who was 4-of-13 from the field, and 1-of-7 on three-point shooting.

What comes next: The Bears play Pacific in the championship game of the DirecTV Classic at 6 p.m., Pacific time on ESPN2. Prior to Friday's games, according to the Sagarin Ratings, Pacific was ranked 176th, which is considerably lower than the two teams the Bears had previously beaten - Drake (128th) and Georgia Tech (71st). Cal was ranked 41st.

Min.

Plus

Minus

Diff

Pts

Reb.

Ast.

Brandon Smith

10

37

23

14

0

4

2

David Kravish

28

50

39

11

9

8

1

Justin Cobbs

37

66

56

10

17

5

4

Tyrone Wallace

30

47

41

6

11

5

1

Allen Crabbe

38

58

53

5

13

5

5

Richard Solomon

26

43

38

5

12

9

1

Robert Thurman

31

39

35

4

6

2

1

DIFFERENCE MAKERS

+

-

Dif

With Brandon Smith in 10 minutes

37

23

14

Without Brandon Smith in 30 minutes

31

34

-3

With David Kravish in 28 minutes

50

39

11

Without David Kravish in 12 minutes

18

18

0

With Justin Cobbs in 37 minutes

66

56

10

Without Justin Cobbs in 3 minutes

2

1

1

LINEUPS

Generally the starting lineup sees the most playing time unless somebody gets into early foul trouble. This wasn't the case against Georgia Tech as the starting lineup was on the floor for 9:17, but it was Cobbs/Wallace/Crabbe/Thurman/Solomon that were on the floor together for 12:10.

LINEUPS

Time

+

-

Dif

Cobbs, Wallace, Crabbe, Thurman, Solomon

12:10

18

18

0

Cobbs, Smith, Crabbe, Solomon, Kravish (starters)

9:17

16

10

6

Cobbs, Wallace, Crabbe, Thurman, Kravish

5:43

10

8

2

Cobbs, Wallace, Smith, Solomon, Kravish

2:11

7

4

3

All others

10:39

17

17

0

BIG COMBINATIONS

Cal used primarily three big player combinations, and each combination saw roughly the same amount of playing time. None of the combinations turned out to be a disaster, although within each group there were good and bad spells.

BIG COMBINATIONS

Time

+

-

Dif

Solomon

Kravish

14:09

24

20

4

Thurman

Kravish

13:02

22

17

5

Thurman

Solomon

12:10

18

18

0

Kravish

0:39

4

2

2

The Bears only used the one-big combination at the very end of the game when they wanted their best ball-handlers and free throw shooters on the floor.

Time

+

-

Dif

Two bigs

39:21

64

55

9

One big

0:39

4

2

2

GUARD COMBINATIONS

With Krekow out, the Bears went with a short guard/wing rotation. Aside from the starting lineup of Cobbs, Smith, and Crabbe, the only other player used was Tyrone Wallace, who ended up laying 30 minutes and was part of the Bears' most- and least-effecting guard/wing combinations.

Even though the Cobbs/Wallace/Smith grouping had a rough game against Drake, they bounced back against the Yellow Jackets, posting a +6 in 2:40 which was better than any other guard/wing combination.

GUARD COMBINATIONS

Time

+

-

Dif

Cobbs

Wallace

Crabbe

22:35

31

34

-3

Cobbs

Smith

Crabbe

11:59

21

16

5

Cobbs

Wallace

Smith

2:40

10

4

6

Wallace

Smith

Crabbe

2:07

2

1

1

Cobbs

Wallace

Smith

Crabbe

0:39

4

2

2

OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY

(This number looks at how many points a team scores when a
particular player is in the game and compares them with how many points
the team scores when that player is out of the game. The resulting
point per minute paces are then extrapolated over a 40 minute basis.
Although some players will have similar offensive productivity numbers -
their numbers when either player is out of the game could vary wildly
depending on how many minutes each player plays.)

OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY

OFF 40 W

OFF 40 W/O

DIF

Brandon Smith

148.0

41.3

106.7

Justin Cobbs

71.4

26.7

44.7

David Kravish

71.4

60.0

11.4

Richard Solomon

66.2

71.4

-5.3

Tyrone Wallace

62.7

84.0

-21.3

Robert Thurman

50.3

128.9

-78.6

Allen Crabbe

61.1

200.0

-138.9

DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY

(This number looks at how many points a team allows when a
particular player is in the game and compares them with how many points
the team allows when that player is out of the game. The resulting
point per minute paces are then extrapolated over a 40 minute basis.
Although some players will have similar defensive productivity numbers -
their numbers when either player is out of the game could vary wildly
depending on how many minutes each player plays.)

DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY

DEF 40 W

DEF 40 W/O

DIF

Robert Thurman

45.2

97.8

52.6

Allen Crabbe

55.8

80.0

24.2

Tyrone Wallace

54.7

64.0

9.3

David Kravish

55.7

60.0

4.3

Richard Solomon

58.5

54.3

-4.2

Brandon Smith

92.0

45.3

-46.7

Justin Cobbs

60.5

13.3

-47.2

BAD OUTCOMES

(The BO (Bad Outcome) Number is still in the testing phase
and will evolve as the season continues. The idea is to take all of the
bad outcomes - missed field goals, missed free throws, turnovers, and
fouls, and divide them my the number of minutes played.)